TWO FAMOUS BOOKS 97

force the exports of grain and raw material still further by
preferential tariff would be cruelty to India. India would
be more prosperous if she was compelled to export less, of
her food supply, and if she imported less of manufactured
articles."

The most notable achievement of the year was, however,
the publication of the second volume of the Economic His-
tory of India which covered the Victorian era. The first
part of this era from 1838 to 1858 saw the last phase of
the administration of the East India Company. In 1858,
after the upheaval known to history as the Mutiny, the
Queen took over the administration direct. In 1877, the
Queen assumed the title of Empress of India, and a new
phase of Imperialism began. Romesh Dutt's second volume
traced the history of these changes down to the beginning
of the twentieth century.

"The sources of a nation's wealth", said Romesh Butt,
"are Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures, and sound
Financial Administration. British rule has given India
peace; but British Administration has not promoted or
widened these sources of National Wealth in India." He
had traced in the earlier volume how, under the Company's
administration, Indian manufacturers had been stifled. In
the second volume he remarked : "When Queen Victoria
ascended the throne in 1837, the evil had been done. But
nevertheless there was no relaxation in the policy pursued
before."

With regard to Agriculture, he concluded, "Cultivation
has been largely extended under the peace and security as-
sured by the British Rule. But no man familiar with the
inner life of the cultivators will say that extension of culti-
vation has made the nation more prosperous, more re-
sourceful, more secure against famines."

Finally, "if we turn from the sources of wealth to its